With all the failed attempts by Indian directors to make an enjoyable, all-encompassing, “masala” entertainer, it’s refreshing to see one filmmaker finally get things more right than wrong. Taxi 9211 isn’t a great film, but it’s definitely an enthralling and enjoyable one with enough frivolous fun to satiate any need for mindless entertainment.Taxi 9211 steals its premise from Hollywood offering, ’changing lens’ but adds a couple of twists to the plot .
Raghu Shastri (Nana Patekar) is an insurance salesman in the eyes of his wife (Sonali Kulkarni). But in reality he is a taxi driver. Every morning, he leaves his dingy home in properly ironed shirt and trousers, but changes to his khaki dress to earn his rozi roti driving taxi number 9211.Raghu doesn’t get along well with people. He is cynical, rude and much too straightforward. It is because of this he has had to change dozens of jobs in the past, and his latest job of a taxi driver too is in jeopardy because he has debts to pay.
Jai Mittal (John Abraham) is a high-headed son of a rich industrialist father. Unfortunately for him, his father did not leave him any inheritance in his will before passing away. Jai lives a life of indulgence. Wine, women and partying are what fill his days.
The film’s greatest strength is that it takes the most preposterous and enjoyable elements offered sparingly in other commercial films, and serve them up in spades. Take, for example, the way in which the film’s sensational main character is presented. Nana’s Raghu has a menacing quality about him that makes him all the more interesting and appealing to watch and root for; he’s certainly much more engaging a character than the smiling, upright, one-dimensional characters crowding the Bollywood commercial film scene today.
Most of the credit for this belongs not to the writer or director, but to Nana himself; he hits all the right notes at all the right times. His performance is exactly the kind of crowd-pleasing tour-de-force that is needed to carry a film like this. Without uttering a line of dialog, he communicates a world of moods and emotions near effortlessly.
There are very few actors in India today who could’ve pulled off this role with as much élan and charisma as Patekar has in this film.
And there is still plenty more fun in the film beyond Nana’s character and performance. All of the comic portion in the film is as hilarious and outrageous as one can possibly imagine. Mr. Lutharia does an equally praiseworthy job shooting the film’s song sequences.
John is the revelation of this movie. The film rests on his shoulder. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that the actor has delivered the best performance of his career till date. Sonali has delivered a good enough performance.Sameera Reddy is okay.
The film’s soundtrack by Vishal-Shekhar is just slightly above average, but comes off very well on screen because of some great visuals and deft editing.
Taxi offers a thrill ride worth taking. Whether it’s the silly dramatics, the ludicrous action, or the eye-catching visuals, there’s just something about this film’s presentation that makes it undeniably entertaining. As long as you don’t take it seriously, there’s a lot of fun to be had watching this fun film set against the backdrop of a urban lives of Mumbai .